Rutgers, Big Ten Super Saturday, Michigan State, college basketball, Paul Mulcahy
Photo Credit: Bobby O'Hara

Rutgers making strong case to be in NIT

From all bracketology accounts, the Rutgers Scarlet Knights should be in the NCAA Tournament. It would be their third straight appearance if they qualify. Technically, it would have been their third straight last season if COVID-19 did not cancel March Madness altogether three years ago.

They shouldn’t feel that secure, though after a 65-53 loss to the Northwestern Wildcats at Jersey Mike’s Arena on Sunday night. They have lost six of their last eight heading into their Big Ten tournament game against Michigan on Thursday afternoon in Chicago, including three straight double-digit losses at home. Their offense has been terrible during this stretch, which is why Rutgers trending downward.

There’s no doubt the NCAA tournament selection committee is watching this closely. Ending the season on a skid creates a bad impression. Right now, Rutgers doesn’t look like a tournament team. Michigan, Northwestern and Penn State make a better case of dancing in March than Rutgers is at this point.

No one can even put a spin on this struggling basketball team.

The Scarlet Knights put on another inept offensive display against Northwestern. After they took a 10-3 lead to start the game, they went on a 10-minute stretch in which they scored just one field goal. They shot 36.4 percent on 2-of-17 shooting from the three-point line, and they missed 10 of their 21 attempts on the free-throw line.

Their defense wasn’t any better as Brooks Barnhizer and Boo Buie combined to score 30 points.

The coaching wasn’t any better on this night. In a game that the Knights had to win to make sure they were in for good, Rutgers head coach Steve Pikiell couldn’t come up with any schemes or moves to get his offense going such as utilizing Derek Simpson more when Paul Mulcahy struggled, and he couldn’t figure out how to stop Barnhizer and Buie either.

On Senior Night, Rutgers seniors offered nothing. Mulcahy scored eight points after being scoreless in the first half. Clifford Omoruyi couldn’t provide Rutgers a big bucket when it needed it the most despite scoring 14 points on 7-of-12 shooting. Caleb McConnell scored only two points, and that was the layup that gave Rutgers a 10-3 lead.

Here’s what was damning on this night: Rutgers couldn’t respond when Northwestern made runs outside of Rutgers tying it at 12 after Northwestern took a 12-10 lead. Rutgers never tied or took a lead again after Northwestern took a 14-12 lead.

Pikiell and McConnell seemed perplexed when asked what went wrong after the game. This explains why Rutgers has been in a fog for weeks now, with no end in sight, as the principals of the game have no answers.

Maybe it could just be the Scarlet Knights overachieved and they were never that good all along.

It was hard to expect much from them after Geo Baker and Ron Harper Jr. graduated last season. This was supposed to be a transitional year. Until Ace Bailey and Gavin Griffiths play their first game as Scarlet Knights, the team would be on a holding pattern.

Rutgers doesn’t have guards that can elevate the team to wins. The Knights don’t have that go-to guy, which is why they are offensively limited. The team doesn’t have much depth which explains why Pikiell relies on his starters to take on the bulk of the minutes. They have no scoring options they can rely on the bench. Derek Simpson and Antwone Woolfolk are only freshmen. Jalen Miller doesn't play much. Oskar Palmquist is just now seeing an expanded role, and outside of Dean Reiber, he's got nothing else to turn. Even when the players come off the bench, it does not matter much since Rutgers goes on even more of a drought.

It shouldn’t really be surprising the Scarlet Knights would eventually struggle at some point this season. There has to be a correlation to the lack of offense that resulted in them losing six of their eight games.

Rutgers somehow gave Purdue its first loss of the season at Purdue’s home court along with beating Michigan State at the RAC this year. This is why it could be good enough for the Scarlet Knights to somehow survive and make the tournament. It’s the team’s saving grace.

But they can only rely on that for so long. They had to finish strong, and they didn’t. To lose to an awful Minnesota team does not look good on them. This is why Sunday’s game was so important. Instead, they played their worst game ever under Pikiell.

Who knows what happens to Rutgers now? How can anyone be confident about that team with few days to go until the conference tournament begins? Sure things can change, but we haven’t seen that in weeks.

We can moan about Mawot Mag’s absence after he was out of the season with an ACL injury, but it wasn’t like he was a difference-maker, either. Rutgers had problems offensively with him, too.

At this point, it could be the Knights are what they are.

It would be wise for the Scarlet Knights to have a good showing in the Big Ten tournament this week. That would be a good way of impressing the committee right there.

Rutgers can’t rely on the conference to save them. The Scarlet Knights went 10-10 in the Big Ten, which is tied for ninth with Penn State.

It could be this stretch is just Rutgers’ reality.

Rutgers is what we thought it was when the season started - a nice middling team that would be fighting for an NCAA tournament spot on Selection Sunday.

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